Solidarity 263, 7 November 2012

Drawback of EU vote

On 31 October the Government was defeated in Parliament on an amendment from a right-wing Tory MP calling for the EU budget to be cut. The Government’s line is that the budget should be frozen, and the odds are that it will do a deal with Germany to keep the increase small. The parliamentary vote does not bind the Government, but has embarrassed it and further inflamed differences between the Tories and the Lib-Dems. Labour MPs, including left-wing ones, voted solidly for the amendment. If the vote had brought the Government down, then those tactics would make sense. But it was nowhere near...

A system where the rich get away with child abuse

If you’re rich and well-connected, you can get away with child abuse. That’s how this system works. Ex-Tory MP Rod Richards claims to have seen evidence implicating Peter Morrison, a very high-placed Tory, in systematic child abuse around North Wales children's homes between 1974 and 1990. Morrison was parliamentary private secretary to prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1990, and organiser of Thatcher’s failed effort to retain the Tory leadership that year. Another leading Tory, not yet named, is also said to have been involved. The North Wales child abuse took 16 years to get out. Then...

ANC and the working class

I am writing to disagree with one of the arguments Martyn Hudson made in his article on the current situation in South Africa in Solidarity 262 (26 October). Martyn introduces the article with a quote from Engels in which Engels was discussing the peasant war in Germany. The quote says that “the worst thing that can befall a leader of an extreme party is to be compelled to take over a government in an epoch when the movement is not yet ripe for the class which he represents ... what he ought to do cannot be done...he is compelled to advance the interests of an alien class.” The quote is used...

Ultra-Stalinists still a threat in Britain

In Leeds, our Keep Our NHS public group had a public meeting which included a Labour Party councillor as a speaker, on the basis we want to try and put Labour on the spot. There was a good turn out of maybe 40 people which included a dozen or so med students. By all estimates the meeting was a success. But what really concerned me is the left in this meeting. The Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist), which a year ago did not exist in Leeds and up until now had not to my knowledge intervened in meetings, managed to dominate the discussion along with a couple of other ultra...

Comet, rotten apples and capitalism

The announcement that another high street retailer, Comet, had bit the dust was hardly unexpected. We're in the midst of a recession, competition is fierce, the company had long been in trouble. There's not much Marxists can add to the debate — or is there? We can of course start with an analysis of the inevitability not only of Comet's collapse that also the (barely-noticed) collapse of its American rival Best Buy, which withdrew from the UK market in the midst of a recession before you could say "bad idea". And you don't have to be much of a financial wizard to predict the eventual failures...

South London NHS: cuts and chaos

South London NHS Trust was taken into administration in July, because it was massively underfunded. Four hospitals were left in limbo until 29 October when the administrator announced their plans. A neighbouring Trust, Lewisham Healthcare will suffer, with its A&E, some surgery, and maternity services all threatened with closure. Lewisham Hospital is a small Trust, struggling to resist merger by applying for Foundation Trust status. A previous consultation had already proposed the closure of Lewisham’s A&E. In the event, the A&E in Sidcup was closed and the South London NHS Trust was formed...

Virgin moves to a new business model

Virgin Care has abolished its partnership agreements with over 300 GPs due to concerns over the “potential conflict of interest” when these GPs take control of commissioning in April 2013. Under the old arrangement these GPs had a 50% stake in Virgin Care partnerships (GPCos) providing services like GP surgeries, diagnostics and dermatology. If they continued with the partnership agreement then these GPs would be in a position to award themselves NHS contracts! The news that these partnerships have been dissolved is an admission by one of the big players in NHS privatisation that the new...

Stop UCL demolishing Carpenters Estate!

On 31 October, a packed meeting organised by the University College London Union (UCLU) against the university’s proposal to build on the Carpenters Estate in Newham heard from residents, students and housing experts opposed to the plans. UCL plans to build a new £1 billion campus in Stratford. The council has been running down the 705-home estate for a decade, encouraging residents to leave and boarding up empty properties with squatter-proof metal shutters, despite a housing shortage in the borough. The estate still has 318 homes and many members of the close-knit community are defiantly...

News in brief

The announcement that subjects such as drama and art will not be included in the new “English Baccalaureate” (EBacc) and that it will only focus on “core” subjects (English, maths, science, history and languages) has provoked criticism from people in the arts that the country’s “creative edge” is at threat. But this misses the point. The narrowing of the curriculum will badly affect working-class students who have fewer opportunities for self-expression. Sell out Lambeth council, which bills itself as the “Co-operative Council”, is on the verge of selling its last stock of “short life” social...

Defend Bob Carnegie!

The Maritime Union of Australia Sydney branch, the Victorian public sector rank and file unionists' network, and the NTEU University of New South Wales branch are supporting Bob Carnegie, the Brisbane activist being sued on multiple charges by construction giant Abigroup. Abigroup is bringing “contempt of court” charges against Bob to gain revenge for having to concede the workers' demands in the nine-week dispute at the Queensland Children's Hospital construction site, where Bob helped as a community protest organiser. • Add your support, or get campaign news, here

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.